3 Key Takeaways from X4 Europe 2018

When 1,000 people descended on The Brewery in London for Europe’s largest experience management event there was plenty on offer with over 20 sessions throughout the day showcasing everything from the brands already making huge strides to the latest additions to the Experience Management Platform™.

Across the board, whether it was in customer, employee, brand or product experience, there were a few key themes that came out as organizations look to the future of experience management.

#1 – It’s Time to Get Personal…

We heard from Qualtrics’ Chief Experience Officer Julie Larson-Green about the unbreakable link between culture and product, and what happens when the employee culture isn’t aligned to the organization’s mission (if in doubt, just ask Uber!)

Elsewhere, the Qualtrics Employee Experience team showed how automated feedback mechanisms were being used to help organizations get personal by taking events from their HR systems and using them to trigger feedback.

It allows organizations to understand more touchpoints than ever before and how each one affects the experience for their staff and, in turn, how that impacts their customers.

The launch of iQ Directory and Predict iQ underscored the importance of putting intelligence at the heart of the platform.

They’re the answer to frustrating experiences, and allow you not only to understand customers better than ever but use that knowledge to avoid frustrating experiences and make decisions much faster by learning from your historical data.

#2 …and Conversational

One thing the personal touch has always had over automation has been the conversation – the ability to speak naturally, jumping from one topic to another seamlessly and reducing the effort of giving feedback.

And unlike automated approaches, it wasn’t very scalable. But with new innovations to turn conversations into insights at scale, that’s all changed.

We launched iQ last year and showed the power of our text analytics software. At X4 2018, we went one further by applying that to real-time conversations.

On the Research Innovation stage, we saw Scott Fynn and Daniel Bloom road test a feedback survey through Amazon Echo. A conversation, held in the moment through a device like Echo, Google Home, Facebook Messenger, Slack and many more can now be the source of invaluable insights. They get closer to the experience by taking your customers’ most natural ways of using language and applying the complete suite of iQ tools to turn it into insights and actions.

And on the CX innovation stage, we saw how it could be applied to in-app feedback, surfacing intelligent questions based on a customer’s response to make feedback faster, less frustrating and overall, more conversational.

#3 – And It Needs to Happen Faster Than Ever

Having the right insights is one thing, but being able to act on them quickly is the difference that separates the most successful experience brands from the rest of the pack.

As with all things in tech, it’s getting faster and faster. And the new additions unveiled at X4 Europe are no different.

Like conjoint analysis, which previously took weeks or months, is now possible in just a few hours. We tested it live too – attendees answered a survey on the Tuesday night and by the time they arrived the next morning, all the results were on display.

Or Predict iQ – our powerful new addition to the iQ suite that allows organizations to predict future behavior whether it’s the risk of customer churn or employee attrition.

Being able to spot a problem before it’s even happened and act quickly to close the loop and save a customer is invaluable. We’re only just scratching the surface too – Predict iQ is brand new to the Experience Management Platform™ and we can’t wait to see what you all do with it.

And finally, acting fast means slotting in with the existing rhythm and operating processes of the organization.

So that means linking up your programs with all the right systems so they slot seamlessly into the applications you’re already using in closing the loop with customers, managing your employees or designing your newest products and services.

It’s the fastest way to embed experience management into the day-to-day of the organization, and with all transformations, the easier you make it, the faster and more effective it’s going to be.